So i just joined the community, and i wanted to have my first post be a map. I just want to say hello to all here, and i hope we can make maps together in the future.
Please tell me what you think of this map, and if you see any improvements or mistakes.
The program i used was GIMP
46989

Methusalem

07-27-2012, 07:23 PM

Yo welcome dude.

In my opinion it is too "empty". The background is missing some stuff too.
I'm not sure but did you use two different styles of mountains in one map or what are these green surfaces?

But for a first map it is okay, I guess.

What i think is funny is that lot of people always draw complete continents on maps. I rarely see maps which contains just a part of the whole world.

Surchgraffiti

07-27-2012, 07:28 PM

Yeah i took the design idea from the original Middle Earth map. These are the same symbols that map uses, and the green circle spots are in land seas. I was just following the same style Tolkien used in his maps. But thanks for the advice man. I have alot to learn when it comes to making maps but we all have to start somewhere. And yeah it is kind of empty but i plan on using it for a campaign that is coming up in a week so i have to fully create all of the places and a story line that follows, which is why i made it a bit more empty then i would have originally.

Methusalem

07-27-2012, 07:42 PM

Right.

The first map is always a mixture of things you see somewhere else (in my case I took a lot of other styles and just put them somehow together ^_^)

Your logic is valid ... :D

A lot of dudes mention this "campaign" ... wtf is this "campaign"? Are you making videogames or maps for Pen&Paper-Games?

jbgibson

07-27-2012, 09:12 PM

Welcome to the Guild, Such. The map's fine as a first effort - and thanks for diving right in, by the way. That's worth a smidgen of rep, just for your willingness to contribute.

There's a problem with your rivers - you'll want to go read Redrobes' excellent guide on How to get your rivers in the right place (http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?3822-How-to-get-your-rivers-in-the-right-place). Your main trouble is that rivers should join as they proceed, not diverge. The exception that proves the rule is a river delta, which is a very specific situation that you really have not depicted.

I bet the inland seas / lakes would look better if they matched the main sea - i.e. either leave out the 'wave lines' or rings, or else use them on all your coasts. They don't really add anything the way they are.

The map would benefit from a scale bar, unless it's so large a landmass that your projection messes with accurate distances.

Does "realm" here mean a certain kind of political unit? If so, why is the whole thing a realm, and then the western half is also a realm?

So are you going to annotate more locations and names as you go, in this campaign? That's a sensible approach, if your players could be expected to know this much about the whole of the landmass, and they can add more bits as they explore, or maybe as they get helpful input from NPCs.

Surchgraffiti

07-27-2012, 10:40 PM

So are you going to annotate more locations and names as you go, in this campaign? That's a sensible approach, if your players could be expected to know this much about the whole of the landmass, and they can add more bits as they explore, or maybe as they get helpful input from NPCs.

That is a really interesting idea. My plan was for there to be more dungeon stuff and maybe some unmarked towns and such. The map they will buy in game from an adventurer who has mapped places he has been to or knows of. So this leaves room for unexplored or mysterious places that could exist as well. And yeah i agree on the sea's the original Tolkien map does have the waves around the entire map as well, i just didn't know how to do that without hand drawing them all. Which wouldn't take too long. But thank you your advice is very nice and steers me in a way to create better maps in the future. I hope to post some new ones here soon as well. Thanks again for the advice

Surchgraffiti

07-30-2012, 06:34 PM

So i am slowly adding more to this map as i build the campaign that uses it. I will post the final map with the story of the world in a week or so

Seraphine_Harmonium

07-30-2012, 08:21 PM

An easy way to make those shorelines is to color select your landmass then go to Select>Grow. This will expand the selection. Then you use Edit>Stroke selection, which will put a line down on the selection. You can then repeat this process to make more lines.